Apple’s 1984 SuperBowl Ad

Since the Super Bowl is staring us right in the face, I thought that it would be fun to revisit arguably the most important tech ad ever aired during the Super Bowl, the 1984 Apple ad to announce the Macintosh computer. This was a very dark and creepy video for its time and Apple’s board of directors threatened to pull it but decided to run it that one single time and the rest as they say, is history. We were fortunate last year at SFTA’s event to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of the PC to have (amongst other dignitaries like Mark Templeton and Ed Iacobucci with Citrix) to have the Ex-CEO of Apple, John Scully, talk about the Ad and the ruckus that it caused prior to the Super Bowl and how they fought to get it played as it was a very radical video during that time. Hope you enjoy watching the ad if haven’t seen it for a while and Oh Yeah, enjoy the game as well!

SFTA Video featuring Apple Ex-CEO John Scully talking about 1984 Ad that almost got pulled by their Board of Directors(Fast Forward to about the 49 minute mark to hear John’s comments)

Apple (1984)

Apple’s Macintosh commercial that ran during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII has been heralded as one of the most memorable commercials of all time. Inspired by the George Orwell book of the same name, Apple’s “1984″ commercial promised that the all-new Macintosh computer – which was to be introduced two days after the commercial’s airing – would show people “why 1984 won’t be like 1984.” It was considered by many to be a direct shot at IBM, which Apple considered to be selling bland, boring, uniform personal computers.

Though Steve Jobs loved the commercial, the story goes that when it was originally previewed for Apple’s board of directors, they all thought it was too dark and weird and none of them wanted to air it. Jobs offered to put up his own money for half of the airtime; Steve Wozniak apparently offered to put up the other half. The board eventually relented.

The ad ran nationally only one time — during its Super Bowl slot.

Fate: Apple’s line of Macintosh computers still exists today. The company itself is doing pretty well, too, believe it or not.